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While the NBA season is loudly winding down and the European Soccer matches are captivating many sports fan’s attentions (during the work-day), the Major League Baseball season is hitting its stride. It’s the summer so we watch baseball, obviously.

While the baseball season is measured by wins, losses, and statistics. This year, much focus has been given to the pitching. In the last month alone, there have been a whole mix of perfect games, complete games, crazy comeback stories, and even a Seattle Mariners combined no-hitter.

Arguably, the success of a team is heavily measured by their pitching. The pitcher is the guy who really carries his team, and usually dictates the pace and success that the team will have. You can pretty much say that if the pitcher allows some runs, the team is going to have a harder time getting the W. Ultimately, if you have a “perfect” or “almost-perfect” pitcher, you should have a perfect win. Obviously, there are times when a team doesn’t score any runs to insure their pitcher or makes some fielding errors behind him, but if the pitcher was perfect, the team wouldn’t have to do much to help.

For the Yankees, its been almost all about the pitching and they have been insuring their pitchers with the perfect amount of hitting every time. Their current winning streak can be attributed to the solid pitching they have been receiving from starting guys like Phil Hughes, CC Sabathia, and Ivan Nova. It’s crazy to think about how people were ready to write off the Yankees when Mariano Rivera came down with his ACL injury just a few months ago. Then, the importance of pitching was not lost on the fans, but thankfully everyone was wrong. Once again, the Yankees have built their starting rotation and bullpen rotation into a powerhouse. Perhaps their streak is so impressive because the Yankees haven’t even scored that many runs. The pitchers have really been outstanding.

R.A. Dickey is just another pitching story that is almost too good to be true. With his win vs. the Orioles last night, he becomes the 1st pitcher to throw back-to-back 1 hitters since Dave Stieb in 1988. The 35 year old has really worked his way into this starting spot after starting the season in Triple-A minor league baseball. He has been dominant as of late striking out a myriad of batters and allowing no-earned runs in his last 5 games. What’s great about Dickey is that he’s helping his team, the New York Mets, a long the way. His Win-Loss record for this season is a solid 11-1. The only loss having come in his first appearance in April. Dickey’s current win streak is remarkable.

When the story broke yesterday that Roger Clemens received a not-guilty verdict on all accounts, fans of the game are left to wonder. Clemens is just another example of the importance we attribute to the pitcher. His 24 year career complete with 7 CY Young Awards is a model that pitchers aspire to. No one will really ever know the complete true story and the name “Roger Clemens” will always be tainted but no one can deny the impact that he has had on the game of baseball. I’m glad this story can finally be over because now we can focus all our attention on guys like R.A. Dickey, CC Sabathia, Jered Weaver, and Stephen Strasburg.

Thankfully, for Major League Baseball, the Euro 2012 matches are during the day so sports fans really have no excuse. If you didn’t like Major League Baseball last week, you have some new reasons to watch. Can the Yankees keep up their win streak? Is R.A. Dickey the real deal? But probably the biggest question is, which teams will rely on their pitchers to get to the postseason and more importantly, which pitchers will show up? Since its really all about the pitchers, your guess is as good as mine.